1) yes, marc norton knowingly and willingly participated. i just went down to his store out of the blue, told him what i do, showed him what i do and told him what i wanted to do with him. i gave him the script of this episode to mull over and he liked it. and even though he seems creepy, he's actually the nicest guy in the world. and he loves comedy. i recorded his part in his store with a laptop computer. a few months later i finished the animation and showed it to him and he loved it. you should've seen his happy hairy face when he saw his animated rat self.

2) yes, alice is supposed to be hispanic. i was going more for columbian, but yes. and yes, cage is a peculiar guttural accent. it's really based on nothing. i intentionally tried to invent an accent. as if he doesn't belong anywhere in this world.

3) eyeliner. same color as her eyelids. i've always thought of running eyeliner as being a very trashy look.